Travel teams add extra innings to season

Bonita Vista softball player, like most, on diamond year-round

SOUTH COUNTY  You would think the day after losing in the section Division II softball championship, players like Bonita Vista High junior first baseman Alex Vargas would sit back, relax and reflect on a 23-5-1 season.

Nope.

Vargas, and many of her teammates, were right back on the diamond, this time practicing with their travel ball team, the Renegades. A week later she was on the road for a tournament in Anaheim. She’ll be practicing three days a week and playing up to eight games in a weekend at tournaments and showcases until high school season starts again next spring.

“We only had one player on our roster who wasn’t on a travel team,” said Vargas, who has been on a travel team since she was a freshman and before that she was a member of the Bonita Valley recreation team that won national titles in 2009 and 2010, pitching and winning the title game in 2010.

It’s a way of life and she thrives on it.

The only time she can’t play with the Renegades is during high school season—CIF rules prohibit it. She’s just as happy she doesn’t have to make a choice because she sees benefits in both.

“High school is important, but different,” she says. “You get more practice time—five days a week instead of three. You get familiar with your teammates and know how they play.

“Travel ball is mostly to get seen and get a scholarship to college. You get to play out of state, so you don’t see the same opponents like you do in high school.”

Vargas says she was taught from the start how to study the opponent. She watches during warm-ups and during the game. If she can steal signs, that’s a plus, but mostly she wants to see trends that she can store in her head for future use.

If a pitcher, for example, throws the ball in same place time after time with two strikes, Vargas will catch on and be waiting to hammer that pitch.

Her high school coach, John Carlson, also views club and high school in different ways.

“The good is you continue playing after the season, and the more reps you get, the better you’ll become,” he says. “I think players who play travel ball do get better in certain ways.”

But not all ways.

“In high school ball, you have to learn to be a teammate first,” he says. “In travel ball, if you are a shortstop and the shortstop on your team is better than you, you just change teams to one that needs a shortstop. In high school and college you don’t get to decide that way.

“It’s a commitment in high school. I think there are some great, great travel ball coaches but there are some who only want to win. I’ve had kids come to me from travel ball who were power hitters so were never asked to bunt. Alex is one of the best hitters I’ve ever had but she can bunt, too.”